Building a Walking Habit

Climate Champion Joy explains how we are all creatures of habit and shares her top tips for forming a walking habit.

We all know that exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle but sometimes getting started is tricky, especially when the weather is dreary and cold and/or the gym is closed. Walking is a great option and by following the following few simple steps (pun not intended!), you may find yourself striding out on a daily basis.  

A habit is an action you do without consciously thinking about it, such as brushing your teeth, making a mid-morning cup of coffee or feeding the cat when you get home from work. They are developed by repeating the action multiple times until they become, well, habitual. At a cognitive level, neuropathways are formed in the brain when we repeat actions multiple times. These pathways fast-track these actions and the more this happens, the stronger the pathway grows.  

Until these pathways are secure, it can be struggle, and will certainly take some conscious engagement, to repeat the desired action. It can be hard to develop a new habit, especially one which does not necessarily provide immediate rewards but here are some hints to help you get started. 

Start small 

And by this, I mean really small! We all like to think we will keep to our resolutions and yet so often, we fail after the first few days and this is because we start too big. As we are trying to develop neuropathways, we need to start by repeating the initial stages of the daily habit on a very regular basis. For a walking habit this might mean putting on our shoes and jacket, going outside and walking once around the garden. It may sound like a waste of time but actually people who start with these basic actions, sustain their desired habit much more successfully. 

Develop an Identity 

Our identity defines which kind of person we are – what we stand for, what we do and how we like to be known. If you regularly think of yourself as a walker, this will enable you to relate to the activity at a much deeper level. Identity allows you to say, ‘As a walker, I’m the kind of person who goes for a walk daily’.  On days when you are tired or busy, this belief will encourage you to still get out and stretch your legs. 

Mindfulness 

Neuropathways are built by repeating an action multiple times, but they are also built through our conscious thoughts. Therefore, being mindful on why you want to walk and how it benefits you both in the short and long term, and reciting these thoughts regularly, including in conversations, will help you become a regular walker. 

As importantly, be very conscious of thoughts which may sabotage your emerging habit such as the short-term comfort of staying at home or other excuses. 

Create the right environment 

Often new habits are highjacked because the environment is set up to support existing habits. Therefore, to help yourself develop a walking habit, it is a good idea to look around your environment and see what can be hidden away, such as the remote control, and what can be placed in a really accessible place – such as your shoes and socks.  

If the weather is lousy, would having warm socks encourage you? If so, put them on the radiator a few hours before your planned walk.  

Would having engaging music be beneficial? If so, download a playlist which makes you happy and gets you going. 

Think about what will help you and action it. 

Find a walking companion 

Having a friend to walk with can be an additional motivation to get out. On the days when you feel out of sorts, they can chivvy you along and having some accountability can also be helpful. For some people, having a walking buddy can also make the experience more fun and fun always helps build sustainability! 

However, have in your own mind that you will walk whether your friend can join you or not. This way, you can enjoy the benefits of walking with a friend, without the risk of defaulting because you are alone. 

If you miss a day, get back on track the next day 

Missing one day is not a problem when developing a habit, but missing two can be the start of a new habit! Therefore, if you do miss a day, try your level best to get back on track as soon as possible. This may mean scaling back the length of your walk or going right back to the beginning again where you just put on your shoes and walk around the garden. 

Conclusion 

Developing a new habit takes effort but walking is a great way to stay (or get) fit, to reduce stress and to build self-esteem. It is free and, if you are able to include it as a lifestyle choice such as walking to work or the shops, it can be environmentally-friendly option too.  

Hopefully, the tips in the post can help you develop a walking habit! 

This post is one of a series of walking blogs by our Climate Champions to promote our Winter Walking Festival and encourage you to get out and about. You can find a number of great Kirkcaldy walks with downloadable routes in our Kirkcaldy Winter Walking Festival Programme. You can also take part in our walking photo competition to win a £30 Kirkcaldy Gift Card – click the festival link above for details.

Walking in Winter

Climate Champion Jennifer explains the benefits of winter walking and describes the sense of wellbeing she feels on her own favourite route.

In Scotland, January and February are often the months when winter throws its worst weather at us. Spring still seems a long way off and there is a temptation  to stay indoors, turn up the heating , and long for summer to return. But, providing we have appropriate clothing to keep us warm and dry, outdoor walking in the winter can be a real tonic.

There are plenty of good scientific reasons for making regular walking part of our lifestyle at any time of the year.  We can listen to doctors who tell us that sitting is very bad for our health, that regular walking is good for our hearts, can lower blood pressure, helps to keep bones healthy, strengthens muscles and protects our joints. Walking anywhere is good, but getting away from the built environments of towns and cities to walk is particularly beneficial: research shows that getting out for a walk or run, in natural surroundings, activates areas in the brain which lead to inner calm and a sense of well-being, and that trees emit chemicals which boost our immune systems.

Those of us who already love walking don’t need to be convinced by science; we do it because there is so much to enjoy all year round. In January, gone is the lush, green foliage of early Spring, the fragrance of Summer flowers, the softness of grassy meadows underfoot and the vivid red and orange on Autumn trees, but the Winter landscape presents new pleasures. We can enjoy tramping over stubble fields, admire the dark silhouettes of bare trees, etched against clear blue skies, notice how silvery green lichens nestle on bare branches and realise that tiny, dormant buds have already formed on bare twigs and are patiently waiting for longer daylight hours and extra sunshine to bring them into life.

Wherever you live in Fife, there is easy access to a wide variety of beautiful places to walk whatever your preference. The recently opened Pilgrim Way provides inland footpaths right across Fife , linking Culross to St Andrews  whilst the Fife Coastal Path stretches for 117 miles along the coastline, from the Forth to the Tay and the Fife Core Path network outlines public access to networks of pathways all across Fife. In addition, there are parklands, woodland rambles and Lochside trails to be found all over the Kingdom.

My own particular favourite walks are through hilly woodland settings: the Formonthills Community Woodland and Coul Den Nature Reserve, run by the Woodland Trust is a fine example

As soon as I step through the gate and enter the woods, I am conscious of moving out of ‘doing’ mode – leaving behind the to-do lists, unresolved problems and time schedules – and moving into ‘being’ mode where stress and tensions slip away, and I connect with the gentler pace of the natural world. I feel my shoulders relax I notice my breathing gets deeper and slower and my steps find a natural rhythm as I stride out. There is a special stillness in the winter woodland: a sense that the trees and shrubs are enjoying their peaceful slumber whilst the ground is tucked up under the soft blanket of fallen, decaying leaves.  It’s only in winter, now that the branches are bare, that I notice   the beautiful silver trunks of the birch trees.

Different weather conditions create many beautiful scenes : sparkling frost highlights the delicacy of spiders’ webs on hedgerows and lichens on branches;  low winter sunshine turns raindrops on bare twigs into strings of twinkling, iridescent ‘fairy lights’  and billowing clouds form a kaleidoscope of shapes and patterns across the sky.

Following the gently meandering track, I notice hungry blackbirds and finches working hard to find food as the winter months roll on, and berries and seeds become ever more scarce.  There is little bird song to be heard, but the robin obliges, chirping merrily as he perches on gate post or bare branch, posing as if pleading to be chosen for next year’s Christmas card.  From time to time the rough, plaintive call of wild geese can be heard as they fly overhead, grouping and re-grouping in a variety of V formations, searching for fields which might yet yield some spilled grain or growing vegetation.

Having reached the summit, I stop to marvel at the panoramic view. On a clear day, I can see right along the river: the May Isle, the Bass Rock, Berwick Law, Arthur’s Seat, and the tops of the towers of the Queensferry Crossing.

At this point in the walk, I realise that the exercise has indeed improved my circulation and I am now feeling very warm.  Having chosen to wear layers, I can gladly dispense with the woolly hat and muffler which were so necessary at the start.

The track winds its way down through young plantations. Startled roe deer dart across my path, taking the ditches in effortless, graceful leaps then bounding off to find shelter, their dark, grey winter coats providing camouflage  among the low bushes. The occasional fox can be seen, lured out in daylight hours by hunger, nose to the ground stealthily following a scent, quickly disappearing into the undergrowth with only the white tip of his bushy tail to be seen.

As I climb the hill, I am presented with a striking view: the bare branches of large deciduous trees form stark, linear patterns, especially spectacular when seen against the fiery red of early morning skies or the molten copper of the setting sun as it begins to sink in late afternoon

And so, the walk is almost over and, reluctantly, I head back home to the business of everyday life, aware that I have absorbed some of the tranquillity from this lovely environment and that this sense of wellbeing will remain with me throughout the rest of the day. And, after all, I can always have another lovely winter woodland walk tomorrow.

This post is one of a series of walking blogs by our Climate Champions to promote our Winter Walking Festival. You can find a number of great Kirkcaldy walks with downloadable routes in our Kirkcaldy Winter Walking Festival Programme. You can also take part in our walking photo competition to win a £30 Kirkcaldy Gift Card – click the festival link above for details.

City Walks – A Means of Discovery

Climate Champion Alecia celebrates the joys of city walking and making new discoveries close to home.

 In the “Before Times,” as I’ve taken to calling them, I travelled quite a bit. I prefer exploring wide-open spaces, high mountains, lush forests, and wind-whipped seasides, but sometimes I still found myself in a city for a few days at a time. Sure there are the “must see” city attractions listed in every guide book, but after the first few times of cramming into a cathedral or jostling around a museum, I found myself skipping them entirely. Instead, I would walk, either with a destination in mind or not. It wasn’t glamorous or show stopping, but I found myself surprisingly pleased and relaxed at the end of my days.  

 Walking around a new city feels like getting to know a new friend. Remember that feeling? Usually it happens when we’re younger, maybe in university, and you chat and chat about things you like and don’t like, your experiences and your hopes. I’d find myself smiling at a beautiful archway, admiring a quaint corner park, or stopping inside a wee alley-café that smelled too irresistible to miss. And let’s be fair, there was the unpleasant to be discovered too: an abandoned building full of shattered windows, a dumped over trash bin, or a sketchy looking street.  

By the end of my daily wanderings though I felt closer and closer to having gauged the spirit of a place. We had had a long chat and I knew how best we got along. If I still had time to spend I could go back to my new favourite park bench or grab a delicious coffee at that hidden café. Not only did I find myself returning to new favourites, but I could keep exploring and become better acquainted with my new city-friend.  

 This unexpected enjoyment of a city wander has come in handy more than I could have ever imagined. I used to think of it as a holdover skill for when I was “stuck” in a new city, town, or village. The end goal was always to get back out into nature and get walking, where I really belonged.  

 Cut to 2020 – Travelling somewhere for a walk, in the countryside or to a different city, has become essentially impossible. Maybe you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with nature a short jaunt from your front door. If that’s your situation I salute you and say, “keep on wandering through that glorious landscape!” but if you’re like me and you live in a city, these are trying times. Now more than ever, I have found myself appreciating my city walks and the way they make me feel. 

 It’s only natural that when you live somewhere you stop seeing every element around you. Life becomes a tunnel vision of getting to work, doing work, leaving work, picking up the shopping, making dinner, and finding a present for that distant relative’s unexpected birthday party invitation (in the “Before Times” at least). You’re not looking for a new favourite park bench or a tucked away café; you’re looking to get daily life done. When there is extra time the thought is often, where else can I go for an adventurous walk?” because why would you be exploring where you live? You know where you live. Or do you? 

 One of the small but great joys I’ve discovered in 2020 is exploring my own city. I found myself looking at the city map and realized I hadn’t seen hardly any of it. There were cities abroad that I new more intimately thanks to past walking explorations. Now I consciously choose to walk down streets I’d normally pass by in a hurry. I find myself smiling at an adorably arranged garden or laughing at a store with a cute pun for a name. Was it always there? I make a mental note to visit it when shops reopen. And I’ll have to walk past this garden in spring as I can only imagine how wonderful it will look in full bloom.  

 Instead of taking the bus to run errands, I’ve been choosing to take the extra time to walk, for both my health and my enjoyment. Streets that normally looked perfect mundane and forgettable were transformed. Beautiful, impressive architecture looked down on me. I could not believe I hadn’t looked up before while walking down this street. I thought I had a new favourite building until I found the next striking one and it too was my favourite.  

I have made a point to range wide with the city parks I visit. They may not be sweeping countryside views, but they are green and lovely and worthy of a wander. I discovered that I enjoy the smaller parks even more than the larger ones.  

If you’re like me and currently can’t set out on a beloved countryside walk, consider a stroll through your own city, town, or village. Maybe you’ll find yourself falling in love with where you live again. You can eagerly look forward to the future when you can pop into that adorable pub you’ve only just discovered or go shopping at that hip looking store that’s tucked away in the alley. A good city walk can unlock all sorts of wonders. 

This post is one of a series of walking blogs by our Climate Champions to promote our Winter Walking Festival. You can find a number of great Kirkcaldy walks with downloadable routes in our Kirkcaldy Winter Walking Festival Programme. You can also take part in our walking photo competition to win a £30 Kirkcaldy Gift Card – click the festival link above for details.

If this blog has inspired you to explore our own town, you may find our Kirkcaldy Walking Guide guide useful.